The article presents a review of the literature on contemporary studies of adaptation to educational activity in elementary, middle and high school. Shows the importance of psychophysiological cost of adaptation in the process of achievement of result of learning activities. The possible content of the main psychophysiological complexes for assessing adaptation parameters is considered, including methods for determining the typological properties of the nervous system, heart rate variability indicators, constitutional features that make up the concept of the psycho-physiological status of students, which is not only genetically determined, but can also change under the influence of external influences. Attention is paid to gender heterochronism of development. Special attention is paid to the problem of adaptation of students to specialized education. The necessity of psychophysiological monitoring taking into account the cost of adaptation is shown that there are three main periods of tension of adaptation systems in the learning process primary school, puberty and the first courses of study at the university, but the mechanisms of stress in these three groups differ significantly. So, among first graders, the failure to adapt is facilitated by the mismatch of the rates of morphofunctional development, and there is also a significant effect of gender heterochronism of development on adaptation processes. In adolescents, at the beginning of puberty, there is an increase in the price of adaptation to educational activities, and the tension of regulatory mechanisms increases during the transition to specialized education, however, the conformity of individual typological characteristics to the chosen educational direction is of great importance in further adaptation. First-year students, unlike five-year students, have a decrease in the reserve capacity of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, especially in conditions of exam stress.